A Marvelous Work is Coming FORTH!

HELLO FROM GOOD OL VA!!!

man my life rocks here.  I LOVE VIRGINIA!! THIS WEEK WAS RAD! however, QUITE crazy. FIRST OFF.  last Monday we went shopping and luckily I was able to find a few things I needed. Man have I been clothing deprived. hahah. THEN, we got home and I just got dizzy and nauseous and was SO sick.  I went white in the face and my companions were like SISTER KENNEDY. WE ARE GOING HOME RIGHT NOW AND YOU ARE LAYING DOWN. So we went home and I fell asleep for like 3 hours.  But I felt much better when I woke up! I also GOT A PACKAGE FROM MY FAMILY ON MONDAY!!! It was SO GOOD! I was so so so excited!!! ahhhh I am so blessed!

Right as I woke up, President Riggs called to tell us that sister taylor was being emergency transferred! He called at 9 PM and she had to be at the mission office at 6 AM the next morning! ahhh we went into panic mode packing her up! We had to get up at 4:45 to get her there on time because it is far from Kingstowne! It was SO SAD. and hard. but its ok... She is now serving in Franconia and we are still in the same district.  SUPER close. 

We also had district meeting... in which we practice taught inviting people to come to church because our numbers have been LOW.  It went really well! The elder I practice taught with also expressed his love to me... in the most missionary way he could. hahaha. way awk.  He literally told me I was perfect and the best missionary he had ever practice taught with and that I didn't make one mistake and that I literally did everything exactly as God would want me to... like whoa.  It wasn't even that good. hhahaha it was hilarious.  And since hes in my district I see him everywhere and sister Schooley just LAUGHS. she thinks its hilarious.  and its not haha just awkward...

We also got a NEW INVESTIGATOR THIS WEEK!!! He is 21 and from Iran! We taught him the restoration and about God's love. He is Muslim, but he is looking for something more. After I recited the first vision he looked at me and said, "wow. I have never talked to anyone who has so much faith in what they believe. I can see your love for what you teach and your love for God in your eyes and its incredible."  and then he committed to read the Book of Mormon!!! YAY! God truly is working through us every step of the way! I love it! He is a way solid guy. 

FUN FACT: we taught one of our investigators (Ange) this week and while we taught her, she threaded our eyebrows... haha so funny.  She is a cosmetologist and everytime we come over she asks if she can cut our hair or wax our legs or do our eyebrows. So we gave in and she did our eyebrows. hahhaa so funny!

We also have been teaching Allen and Mary who CAME TO CHURCH on Sunday! whoop!!! He is getting baptized next Sunday inbetween conference sessions! He is SO EXCITED and SO READY. It is so great to see the light of CHRIST in his eyes! God truly has been preparing him to be baptized and he KNOWS it! I just love him and this work!!!

I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM ON SATURDAY!!! Kesi and his son Elin were baptized together :) Eli, his other son, did not get baptized however :( Kesi's wife decided to move back to Ghana with Tan and their daughter Eminos. They are still married... but a TON of Ghanaians do that... They will have half the family in the states and half in Ghana.  The ones in the states will work and send the money home to Ghana because they cant afford to all live in America.  SO SAD.  my heart has been hurting for them.  They moved the DAY of the baptism!! SO HARD.

The next day, as they were confirmed, the spirit was SO STRONG. They were promised so many incredible blessings from their father in heaven and it was so great to witness.  I LOVE IT!

I ALSO MET SISTER ELIZABETH KELLY IN THE FLESH!!!! for those of you who don't know, we are SOUL SISTERS. we talked on insta and facebook for like a month before she left because we knew we were going to the same mission.  AND THEN I MET HER AT SISTER CONFERENCE!!! AHHHH!!! She is even RADDER than I expected.  SO MUCH SASS. I love that woman.  We are literally the same person and we are going to be comps. I can FEEL it. 

SHOUTOUT TO THE BAYFIELD WARD YOUNG WOMEN FOR THE RAD PACKAGE I RECIEVED!!! Full of letter and a mug and candy :) I was SO PUMPED. I cant even describe it!! AHHHH!!

ALSO for the WONDERFUL letters I got from the never-failing ISABELLA ERRIGO and my perfect cousin Madeline :) PS the artwork... INCREDIBLE. Its hanging up above my desk :)

The week has FLOWN BY. so many great things are about to come forth as we labor among the children of men.  Heavenly Father will bless us more than we know if we can just PUT HIM FIRST.  This restored gospel has the perfect, complete knowledge and truth that will allow us to return to our Heavenly Father and I am forever indebted to Him for that.  THAT is why I am sacrificing 18 months of my life to him.  May we all strive to show MORE GRATITUDE towards our savior this week as we learn to recognize ALL the ways he blesses us and our families.  This gospel is truly for EVERYONE and God is sending the elect to fall into our paths.  I invite ALL of you to pray for missionary opportunities with REAL INTENT, and you will GET THEM! 

This life TRULY is the best life.  I love this gospel, I love my Savior, and I am absolutely 100% OBSESSED with being a missionary.

keep it real and keep the faith

Sister "SWAG" Kennedy

 Me and the daughter of one of our investigators!!!!

 The three of us just being us!!! HAHA

 Just call me the Cat Lady!

 Packing up Sister Taylor!

 Last comp pic before Sis. Taylor was transferred... :(.

 Me and Sis Deaver who used to live in Durango!!

 My cute desk

 Sis. Kennedy and Sis. Kelly

 Swag sisters......... haha!

 Got to see Sis Williams again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!

The miracles will NEVER cease!

I love my life.  I am so serious. the mission life is the best life. I feel so much love and joy that I have NEVER felt before. The people we meet and teach are so incredible and change my life more than I ever thought possible. I AM SO BLESSED!!! starting with last Monday... We went to DC!!! yay! We got to tour the library of congress! on our way there we met this guy from Indiana who is Mormon so he took a selfie with us. hahaha way funny. we have some RAD pics from the big city, I will send them.  DC is gorgeous.  I loved it there! While we were there these 3 guys from Taiwan asked to take a picture with us. Not have us take the picture, be IN the picture... so we did. and then all of these men like FLOODED in. it was us and like 12 men from Taiwan. SO FUNNY. I will send it ;) we got it on our camera too! haha we also went to the botanical garden! it was SO RAD! AHHHH! I was pumped about that...

The rest of the week was equally as rad ( I use that word WAY too much, and the elders in my zone make fun of me Constantly for that haha).  we had district meeting, which was SUPER good. We talked about teaching by the spirit and as we practice taught, we were paired up with someone in the district.  I am the newest missionary and I was super nervous and our district leader was like, "Sister Kennedy! you can be my partner!" ahhhh!!! I thought I was gonna die, I was SO nervous. But I think I did good! He was talking about me to my comps, all good things of course haha, its probably just because of my good looks though... because you should see my sweet greasy hair and sweaty skin in this humidity. its so attractive. hahaha. 

I am just learning SO MUCH HERE! we went on exchanges this week, so one of my sister training leaders was my companion for the day, sister Udall, she is GREAT.  and we had so much fun together! I learned a lot! we tracted AND got a new investigator!!! AHHH! I was so pumped! we also cleaned this ladies house and she was a hoarder... but not just a hoarder you couldn't see the floor... it was so sad and we took out 15 bags of trash, it didn't even look like we made a dent! She was very grateful though, and she was a DARLING woman. We also went to dinner with a family that just moved here for Colorado Springs :) It was nice to feel at home for a second haha.

ALSO! there is a man in our ward who grew up in FARMINGTON NEW MEXICO! and his daughter is serving a mission in California and is serving in LIZZIE BLACKS HOME WARD!! WHAT!? yeah. its true. so so so rad. 

one of my FAVORITE Things about DC is the culture and diversity... ALL of the Africans always say "no problem!" to whatever we say... its the best. they love us and are always hugging us... "oh yes, come teach us, no problem! no problem!" soooo great!

MY FIRST BAPTISM IS THIS WEEK!!! SATURDAY!!! A FAMILY!!!! a father and his 2 sons :) we are SO SO SO EXCITED!!! they are from Ghana and just so wonderful.  they are progressing so much and they are so excited to be baptized into the lords church :)

Miracle of the week:
so we were going to visit some members Saturday night when we had this feeling to go check on Anju, one of our progressing investigators. So we headed that way.  We got there and she was not in a good mood.  she is from India so sometimes it is hard to understand her and she couldn't really explain her feelings.  She told her kids to go upstairs, and just broke down into sobs as she told us she was getting kicked out of her home and she doesn't have a stable enough job to afford anywhere else.  Her ex-husband is abusive and has been horrible to her and her children.  She misses her family who are all in India, and she feels like everyone's life would be better if she was dead.  In that instant my mouth just opened... and I cant really remember what I said, but I bore testimony of the power of family and of motherhood and how much God loves her.  I started crying with her and my companions started crying. the spirit filled the room and we told her how important her role was on this earth.  She immediately lightened up and you could see her eyes fill with hope and love for her Savior and his Atonement.  I am so grateful for the power of the spirit and how it can work through us if we will let it. 

This restored gospel is so true. I am so grateful for its power and for the knowledge I have of my Savior and his sacrifice for me!

I LOVE THIS PLACE and I LOVE BEING A REPRESENTATIVE OF JESUS CHRIST!

keep it real and keep the faith,

sister kennedy

PS mom I have zero clothes haha if you want to send me a dress or two that would be WONDERFUL

Here are the pics of the week!  DC was incredible!!!!  

One of my Sister training leaders for the day... Sister Udall

In front of the Capitol Building!

The Library of Congress

HAHAHA!

Us being artsy!

Artsy again :)

On the steps at the Library of Congress

Me and my cute comps with our thank you letters to people in out ward!

Buying DORITOS!

going to the ward campout with our serious faces!

Us at the campout!

My 1 month mark!!  So we celebrated with having some FroYo!

Sister Schooley, Sister Kennedy and Sister Taylor :)

We ate the treats we made for a Sunday school class!

Sister Schooley and I in front of the mission home!

I am loving my life!

WOW WOW WOW!!!! what an incredible week of miracles, hardships, and love.  I wish I could explain the amount of CRAZY things that have been happening in my brain and in real life.  haha first off, I just realized that I haven't told anyone like anything about my RAD comps.  SO. Sister Schooley is 21 and from Kaysville UT :) she has been INACTIVE HER WHOLE LIFE. yeah. real talk. her first time going to all 3 hours of church was in the MTC!!!! can you even take it? So sometimes when I feel like I cant do this anymore, I just imagine what it must have been like for her when she first got here.  She could not believe that she actually came out on her mission and that she is almost done!  She felt like it was the right thing for her to do, and she DID IT.  WOW. she is SUCH A GEM.  She has an incredible way of loving people and she can make anyone feel comfortable.  She is so funny and has the best laugh EVER (second only to the one and only Courtney Poulsen, who I SO HOPE is reading these blog posts!!).  she is just a darling and she is so fun, ALWAYS trying to have fun and make the most of EVERY situation. She goes home in November! how crazy is that!?  Sister Taylor is also 21 and from Sacramento CA!  she is a darling. She has been out for 13 months and MAN. THIS GIRL KNOWS HOW TO WORK.  she literally CHASES after people in the streets to give them books of Mormon because she has such a strong testimony of how it can change their lives. And when I say chase, I mean CHASE. like full on sprint in a skirt.  shes so stinking rad. She loves loves loves being a missionary and is an incredible teacher.  She knows her doctrine and she knows her Savior.  What a blessing it has been for me to learn from both of them.  SERIOUSLY.  They are such good examples to me and them help me learn and grow EVERY DAY. 

As for me, I have learned to LOVE Virginia more and more every day.  the people, the culture, the humidity, EVERYTHING.  When you are driving on the highway, you feel trapped because the trees are SO THICK.  But its super cool because you feel like you are in a jungle.   AHHHH I LOVE IT! as for the people, I LOVE EM.  like I said, ZERO WHITE PEOPLE. and when I say that, I mean that.  EVERY person we talk to on the street is not from America and English is their second language.  Our mission office has copies of the Book of Mormon in 172 languages!!! that's how diverse this area is.  IT IS SO RAD.  Yesterday for example, we were knocking on doors and taught a woman from Erithrea.  WHAT. like who the heck knows what that is? not me. It was REALLY hard to understand her, but she was the MOST LOVING woman on the planet.  She just kept hugging me and kissing my cheeks.  Her name is Seegah... yeah try pronouncing that one ;) My companions were like whoa sister kennedy! youre like a hot commodity hahaha. we also met a man form Bulgaria, some people from Columbia, India, TONS from the middle east, and always a lot from Mexico.  ITS SO DIVERSE.

But now, heres a crazy story... hahaha so we were knocking doors one day and sister Schooley felt like we needed to go talk to this big group of Ghanaian men.  (SO MANY GHANAIANS HERE. like more Ghanaians that anything else I would say).  So we go over to where they are, they are having a party, and they are all very heavily under the influence.  Sister Schooley being her cute self just starts testifying of Jesus Christ.  hahaha me and sister Taylor were just sitting there like uhhhh.... who are these creepy men?  finally we left because they wouldn't listen to us, but it was pretty funny. 

now for THE MIRACLE.  So it is really common for people in this mission to go home without any baptisms.  like zero.  and we are teaching 7 people that have committed to  baptism!!! WHAT!? Now, let us not forget that most likely they will not ALL be baptized, but that is still pretty dang cool! So lets give you some background on these peeps.

The first family is a family from Ghana.Cesi, Tal, Elin, and Eminos.  That is a father and his three kids.  They are SO SWEET.  they were found on the street, sister schooley found them before me and sister taylor got here.  They have committed to be baptized on September 27th! (but not Eminos because she is 6).  They come to church every week and they love learning more about the Lord's gospel.

The second family is a true miracle.  One day we were going to check up on a man named Oku (another Ghanaian).  While we were walking there we were going up and talking to everyone who came in our path, because that's just what we do ;) everyone was telling us that we were wrong and blah blah blah and I was getting pretty frustrated.  But! as we were walking up to Oku's door, there was a woman in the distance who looked at me and had this HUGE smile come across her face.  I kept looking at her thinking, we need to teach her.  We knocked on Okus door, and there was no answer.  I looked back and the woman was still smiling at me, so we went over and talked to her. She explained to us in broken English that she has been searching for a church and that when she saw us she knew she needed to talk to us! We went back to teach her last night with her three children who HAVE ALL COMMITTED TO BE BAPTIZED. This family is truly a miracle and a gift from God.  We taught them all about Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon and they told us that as we taught them they felt peace and that it was good.  They want to be baptized and we couldn't be happier!!!! they are from india and are just precious people.

We also have an investigator named allen who is scheduled to be baptized on October 11th! he is so great and he feels like God has put this gospel in his path because it is true and the right thing for him to do.

WELL!! my time is almost up, but I want each and every one of you to know that this Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly the happiest message on earth and it can change our eternities!!!

I love you all so much, especially my perfect family that I miss more than I can say.

keep it real and keep the faith

sister kennedy

PS all the new missionaries had a meeting with President Riggs, and he took me and sister Williams aside and told us "Sisters, I want you to know how excited I am for you two to be in this mission. You are already doing so well and helping this work progress so much. You both need to know that I will be putting you in leadership positions Very quickly"

AHHHH!!! SO SCARY!
AND GUESS WHAT! we are going into DC today to the library of congress!!! YAY!!!

Here are some fun pics with my companions and people I've met so far... Also some of our apartment!